The Lake District

Area in the North West of England. It has some coast, but the main attraction is the big lakes on which you can do the usual watersports and the beautiful scenery, consisting of pretty, big mountains and, again, the lakes. Very good for walking. Home of Beatrix Potter and the 'Swallows and Amazons' books. Also known as Cumbria (I think that's the official county name).

Glaciation has carved the area's beauty from granite and limestone, resulting in impressive hills and dales, peaks, fells and moorland. Man has cut back the forests, and sheep have grazed a new ecology - the mighty woodlands of old are replaced by gentle pasture in the valleys, and open moorland on the hills. Water and ice made their mark on the hillsides, and Man continued to change the scene through agriculture and mining.

The dominant feature of the landscape is the stark contrast between the peaks and the lakes themselves. The valley floors, verdant green and dotted with pretty villages, are overlooked by the fells, with upland pasture and the remaining woods. From the fells, ramblers can see across valleys, in a landscape which varies from heather moorland to open limestone pavement.